News
Local

Kingston is among the Canadian cities that will be home to a Target store by early next year.

The U.S. retail giant announced Thursday the location of 105 stores in 10 provinces it plans to open early in 2013.

The new local Target store will replace Zellers at Cataraqui Town Centre.

"I think it is positive," said Susan St. Clair, general manager of the shopping mall.

Target sells items such as home decor, apparel, groceries and electronics.

St. Clair said the new store will bring fresh, new products to the mall.

"They are an excellent retailer. Everyone knows Target," she said.

Zellers has been in the mall since it opened in 1982.

The Target store will open after extensive renovations to the existing Zellers location.

St. Clair said the store location is unique because it is two storeys but she does not know what the renovations would involve.

The Kingston location is one of 45 new Targets to open in Ontario.

Kingston is one of only three cities in eastern Ontario to be selected for the initial wave of Target stores.

Three stores are planned for Ottawa and another in Smiths Falls.

"We plan to hire tens of thousands of Canadians," Tony Fisher, president of Target Canada, said at a news conference in Chicago Thursday morning.

According to the company, the average Target store in the U.S. employs between 150 and 200 people.

The announcement followed January's $1.825 billion deal with Hudson Bay Company that saw Target purchase the leasehold interests to 220 Zellers stores.

The deal includes two payments of $912.5 million to be made in May and September.

Target said Zellers will sublease the stores and continue to operate them as Zellers for some time.

The company said the vast majority of the Zellers stores acquired will become Target stores.

The first wave of locations are owned by 22 property owners and landlords. A second wave of stores is expected to be announced in September.

Founded in Roseville, Minn., in 1962, Target is the second-largest retail company in the U.S. after Walmart, with $67.4 billion in revenue in 2010. Net earnings that year were $2.9 billion, up 17.3% from 2009.

Target operates 1,755 stores in 49 states.

Its red bull's-eye is considered to be one of the most recognizable corporate logos in the U.S.